MP173 Wabash also ran passenger trains to and from Columbia, Missouri in the 60's. A nice little operation with three round trips per day to meet the mainline KC - StL trains at Centralia. That would have been an interesting way to spend a day.
That would have been an interesting way to spend a day.
In the early '70's Wabash (N&W) handled Chrysler truck chassis from Detroit to Des Moines for interchange with the Rock Island. They then went north to the Winnebago plant at Forest City, IA. Some days there were upward of thirty loads.
Wabash also ran passenger trains to and from Columbia, Missouri in the 60's. A nice little operation with three round trips per day to meet the mainline KC - StL trains at Centralia.
Ed
The Wabash did serve Des Moines Iowa with its own trackage. It also operated a branch line to Ottumwa Iowa from Moulton Iowa. The stations in Iowa from Des Moines to the Missouri border were Percy, Harvey,Tracy, Albia,Moravia and Moulton. This line joined the Kansas City- St Louis mainline at Moberly Missouri. The Wabash also served Council Bluffs Iowa with a line from Brunswick Missouri. This line had a daily passenger train from St Louis to Council Bluffs; No.211 and 214. The train was a glorifed mixed train; but it did operate more than a rider coach in its consist. The train did survive the Norfolk & Western merger on October 16th 1964. The trains did serve Moberly, Chillicothe and Maryville Missouri plus Shenandoah Iowa. The train left St Louis at 6:30pm and arrived at Council Bluffs at 8:10am next day. The Wabash frequently worked the train with an Alco PA.
The Norfolk and Western used CB&Q rails to reach Des Moines after the construction of the Red Rock dam in 1965. Lake Red Rock would put Wabash rails underwater; also the town of Percy Iowa. The The N&W operated from Albia Iowa to Des Moines on the CB&Q and used its own rails south of Albia. The N&W used its own locomotives and crews to Des Moines. They shared a terminal with the Milwaukee Road. Iowa road maps did show the line from Des Moines to Albia via Runnels Iowa as N&W trackage. This is a mistake.
I do consider myself fortunate that I was able to see three N&W locomotives in Des Moines in Sepember of 1982. I had seen N&W a lot of places in Virginia and Ohio and Ft Wayne Indiana,but I had to see for myself; N&W did serve Des Moines and it was not out of place at all. I did as they say" Follow The Flag"!
Blue Jackets of '61: A History of the Navy in the War of Secession by Willis John Abbot
http://books.google.com/books?id=1GsfAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA114&dq=wabash+%22follow+the+flag%22&output=text
Deggesty Jeff, it definitely was 1966; these issues still had N&W passenger timetables in them--by 1981 the Guide was split into two editions; one for freight and one for passenger. It is interesting that your 1978 N&W TT lists the the line. Perhaps the N&W/Q still owned it, but did not operate any trains thereon? By the way, if you have an older Guide, you know that the roads were listed, somewhat, by region. The freight edition listed them alphabetically.
Jeff, it definitely was 1966; these issues still had N&W passenger timetables in them--by 1981 the Guide was split into two editions; one for freight and one for passenger. It is interesting that your 1978 N&W TT lists the the line. Perhaps the N&W/Q still owned it, but did not operate any trains thereon?
By the way, if you have an older Guide, you know that the roads were listed, somewhat, by region. The freight edition listed them alphabetically.
The ETT shows the entire line, Moberly to Des Moines and the Moulton to Ottumwa branch. IIRC, the Trains' Iowa issue map shows the Moulton-Ottumwa segment abandoned in 1982 or 83, listed as ex-Wab.
Jeff.
Johnny
Deggesty A little more information on route change and abandonment. Looking at the maps in Guides that I have, I found a time frame for forsaking the Moberly-Des Moines line: The August, 1966, issue shows the Moberly-Des Moines line; the November, 1966, issue shows the route through Burlington. The November, 1981, (I think this is the last freight Guide I have) shows the line to Council Bluffs. So, the Brunswick, Mo.,-Council Bluffs, Ia., line was not abandoned as a condition of the N&W's taking over.
A little more information on route change and abandonment.
Looking at the maps in Guides that I have, I found a time frame for forsaking the Moberly-Des Moines line: The August, 1966, issue shows the Moberly-Des Moines line; the November, 1966, issue shows the route through Burlington.
The November, 1981, (I think this is the last freight Guide I have) shows the line to Council Bluffs. So, the Brunswick, Mo.,-Council Bluffs, Ia., line was not abandoned as a condition of the N&W's taking over.
For the Moberly-Des Moines line, is that 1966 or 1986? The Trains' Iowa issue with map from about 1986 still shows N&W operating from the Missouri state line to Albia, then over the BN route that uses pieces of both original lines.
The Apanoose County originally started over ex BN and ex RI track to a connection with the N&W. When the N&W, or maybe by that time NS, abandoned the route they were forced to buy from that point to Albia to maintain an outlet. Not sure of the time frame.
I just remembered I have a 1978 N&W Moberly Division ETT. Between Albia and N&W Jct, just short of Des Moines, both N&W and BN trains were governed by N&W rules and time table. Even though ownership of various segements remained with either BN or N&W. The time table schedule page shows both N&W mile posts and BN mileposts, depending on the ownership of the line at a particular station. They alternate between MP's in the 20s for BN locations and 200s for N&W locations. I think now that it's operated by BNSF, they may have renumbered the entire line, but don't know for sure.
Jeff
beaulieu, you're right. I did not look at the line in the atlas just before my last post. The Iowa Southern operated the segment between Council Bluffs and Blanchard, Ia.; the Northern Missouri operated the segment between Blanchard and Lock Springs, Mo., and the N&W continued to operate between Lock Springs and Chillicothe--and the entire line has now been abandoned. Changing times; changing traffic patterns.
The Brunswick, MO to Council Bluffs, IA line was shortlined off. Not enough traffic for the Short line to survive long term so it was eventually abandoned. The NS Decatur, IL to Kansas City line sees a lot of Auto related traffic. Ford's Claycomo Assembly Plant (near Kansas City) is captive to this line on a branch. Also NS has a auto reload mixing center for Ford at Voeltz Yard. The line sees 2 Roadrailer trains in each direction as well as a regular Intermodal train.
Thanks, Ed. You always contribute good stuff to these discussions.
- Rails West
My 1971 Moodys has very little information regarding Wabash, but the 1955 edition can shed a little light on the subject of Ford and other financials:
While Ford is not broken out specifically, automotive traffic in 1954 was 7% of tonnage hauled and 16.5% of revenue. With total revenues of $109 million, this would place the automotive traffic at roughly $18m. Wabash's OR in 1954 was 77% with a net profit of $9.5m.
Coal was a heavy tonnage contributor with 26% of lading hauled and 8.5% of revenue. This was slipping dramatically as the midwest shifted from burning coal in homes and industry to heat and energy from natural gas.
Agriculture contributed 23% of tonnage and 19.5% of revenue. The Decatur facilities of Staley and ADM obviously were big factors. Today's Wabash line from Detroit to Decatur (and beyond) not only handles significant auto traffic, but has continued large grain operations at Decatur, Lafayette, and other locations.
NW was able to expand outside of it's role as a coal hauler with the merger and lease of NKP and Wabash. The overlap of duplicate lines - Wabash and NKP had dual lines into Buffalo, Chicago, and St. Louis didnt appear to be an issue, as each of the routes had a strong line and one which was inferior.
For example, the Wabash line to Buffalo (thru Detroit) was trackage rights thru CN. NKP's route to East St. Louis was inferior to the Wabash line thru Decatur and Wabash's line from Toledo to Chicago was a minor route. All of these routes were de-emphasized over the years and mostly abandoned.
One would have to say NW took a major step forward with their 1964 merger, allowing itself to avoid the mess of weak carriers, as a merger partner.
From the internet, here are some of the Wabash's major customers (circa 1960):
* Ford (Detroit, Chicago, St. Louis, Toledo, Kansas City, Buffalo) * Pillsbury Co. ( Springfield, IL) * A. E. Staley Mfg. Co. (Decatur, IL) * A. P. Green Firebrick (Mexico, MO) * Archer Daniel Midland Co. (Decatur, IL) * Detroit Union Produce Terminal * Lauhoff Grain Co (Danville, IL) * International Salt Co. (Detroit) * Central Stone Co. (Huntington, MO) * Granite City Steel Co. (Granite City, IL) * Acme Fast Freight (in Detroit, MI, Kansas City, MO)
I wonder how much business they had from Ford? I know the Rock Island was another road that shipped a lot of auto parts.
Some other familiar names on the list:
The Pillsbury name is still around today, but is now owned by its former competitor, General Mills.
ADM is still around, too, of course.
I've seen the name "Acme" on truck trailers. Is it still around?
Des Moines traffic is handled in BNSF trains. The NS doesn't run a train of their own over the route. At Des Moines the NS does the industry switching for both NS and BNSF using whatever power is available. All former NS/DMU trackage west of the Des Moines river has either been pulled up or turned over to the Iowa Interstate, including some ex-MILW the DMU/NS picked up after 1980.
Even when the NS/N&W was still running trains into DM, the line between Albia and Des Moines was jointly used by BN/BNSF and N&W/NS. The trackage was a mixture of original CB&Q and Wabash. Both at one time had fairly close lines that were combined into the present trackage.
Every so often the NS would advertise openings for switchmen. Before I hired out on the UP I attended one of these interview sessions. At that time the NS rep said anyone hired would be limited to the Des Moines terminal. You wouldn't be forced to Moberly or other places where NS still had trackage.
Blessed with 20/20 hindsight 50 years after the fact....It would have appeared that N&W/NS would have had a advantage over the other Eastern Carriers with direct gateway connections at both Omaha and Kansas City thus bypassing the Chicago congestion. Undoubtedly there wasn't much traffic moving on the Omaha route and I wonder how much traffic NS is currently moving through the Kansas City gateway?
Deggesty According to the SPV Prairies, East and Ozarks atlas (2004), the NS has trackage rights over the BNSF from St. Louis to Des Moines, going up through Hannibal and Ft. Madsion to Burlington, and then west to Albia and then north to Des Moines. The Wabash line has been abandoned between Moulton, Ia., and Moberly, Mo. Appanoose County Community Railroad operates the former Wabash between Moulton and Albia. From Albia to east of Runnels, the track has been abandoned--and the situation west of there is interesting. Apparently, the CB&Q laid a new track from just west of Swan (SE of Runnels) to the former Wabash east of Runnels--and operates the former Wabash from there almost into Des Moines, having abandoned its own track to the Des Moines River from that junction west of Swan. It leaves the former Wabash at N&W Jct., which is about two miles east of the Q's crossing with the Rock's N-S line--and the NS goes into Des Moines on its own (Wab) track. The Wabash was abandoned between Chillicothe, Mo., and Council Bluffs--and various segments were operated by various roads, but all of this line has now been abandoned. I have no knowledge as to why any of the changes was made, but I expect that the route change to Des Moines was because of low traffic density.
According to the SPV Prairies, East and Ozarks atlas (2004), the NS has trackage rights over the BNSF from St. Louis to Des Moines, going up through Hannibal and Ft. Madsion to Burlington, and then west to Albia and then north to Des Moines.
The Wabash line has been abandoned between Moulton, Ia., and Moberly, Mo. Appanoose County Community Railroad operates the former Wabash between Moulton and Albia. From Albia to east of Runnels, the track has been abandoned--and the situation west of there is interesting. Apparently, the CB&Q laid a new track from just west of Swan (SE of Runnels) to the former Wabash east of Runnels--and operates the former Wabash from there almost into Des Moines, having abandoned its own track to the Des Moines River from that junction west of Swan. It leaves the former Wabash at N&W Jct., which is about two miles east of the Q's crossing with the Rock's N-S line--and the NS goes into Des Moines on its own (Wab) track.
The Wabash was abandoned between Chillicothe, Mo., and Council Bluffs--and various segments were operated by various roads, but all of this line has now been abandoned.
I have no knowledge as to why any of the changes was made, but I expect that the route change to Des Moines was because of low traffic density.
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
I noticed in the Wabash map that they had lines to both Omaha and Des Moines....in looking at the current NS Map they do not show a line to Omaha and only have trackage rights to Des Moines....was the Omaha line given up as a condition of the N&W-Wabash merger, sold off, abandoned? Was the Des Moines line always trackage rights or was it given up as a condition of the N&W-Wabash merger?
I'd recommend two books to start:
Donald Heimburger, Wabash and H. Roger Grant, Follow the Flag. They'll keep you occupied for a while, both are still in print. After that, you can look up the Wabash Historical Society, a very good organization. You can find them on the Internet.
We've had some good discussions recently on this forum about the midwestern railroads, CGW and the NKP. Well, now I'm curious about the Wabash Railroad.
The Wikipedia entry on the Wabash is actually quite good and informative (here). According to the entry, one of the strengths of the Wabash was its Detriot to Kansas City line. Here is what it says:
"The Wabash's major freight traffic advantage was the direct line from Kansas City to Detroit, without going through St. Louis or Chicago. Despite the Wabash name disappearing in the 1960s, the company continued to exist on paper until being merged into the Norfolk Southern Railway in 1997."
Now I'd be interested to hear what else the Wabash was good at. Can anyone add anything? Or would anyone like to expand on what the quote above says?
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